Mass releases of balloons filled with a lighter than air gas mixture are commonly used to promote major public events. These releases require the filling of many thousands of balloons over a relatively short period of time because the balloons remain properly inflated for only a limited time usually several hours. Hitherto the balloons have been filled manually by teams of people each using a manually operated filling device. Typically the manual filling devices include a nozzle over which the neck of the balloon is stretched before being inflated with gas from a pressurized source. The gas flow is controlled by a manually operated valve and the degree of inflation is determined visually by the operator. After inflation the balloon is removed from the nozzle and the neck of the balloon is sealed with a tying device applied by the operator. This method of inflating balloons suffers from several inherent disadvantages including:
(a) It is labour intensive and time consuming. A skilled operator has difficulty filling more than about 175 balloons per hour. Consequently many operators are required to inflate the thousands of balloons required for mass releases within the relatively short inflated balloon lifetime. PA1 (b) The manual stretching of the balloons over the prior art filling nozzle can lead to damage of the filling neck and failure of the balloon. PA1 (c) The visual determination of degree of inflation results in non uniformity of balloon size and, in cases of over inflation, failure of the balloon. PA1 (d) Removal of the balloons from the prior art filling nozzle and manual tying can also result in gas loss and/or damage to the balloon.
It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for filling balloons which will overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the above disadvantages.